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Not a fan

I'm an enormous fan of Benedict XVI, but not of this proposed move that may take place tomorrow:

The news has been widely reported in Lebanon, especially among Christians. Yet, one of its most vigorous promoters is a Muslim. Yesterday the Council of Ministers meeting chaired by Saad Hariri, has approved a decree that the feast of the Annunciation on March 25 is "a common Christian-Muslim national holiday," unprecedented in the annals of dialogue between the two religions .

The new festival, which will have a "national" rather than "religious" stamp, will be celebrated alongside that of the Annunciation, not replacing it. It should help to make the figure of the Virgin Mary, revered in Islam almost as much as in Christianity, a symbol of unity among the Lebanese, and further the image of Lebanon as a "Country symbol” of pluralism and tolerance, in agreement with the words Pope John Paul II.  

Obviously, political steps (concerning diplomacy and inter-religious relationships abroad) are not a question of "faith and morals" so different opinions are allowed and I may not have all the geo-strategic facts that the hierarchy does. But the Muslims view of Mary is so different than ours that I think it cheapens (even undermines) honest dialogue rather than helps it.

So be it -- we'll see what transpires. Our Lady of Lebanon, pray for us!

Our lady of lebanon

Posted by on Friday, 19 February 2010 at 01:22 PM |

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    • From Benedict XVI
      “People have realized that the complete removal of the feminine element from the Christian message is a shortcoming from an anthropological viewpoint. It is theologically and anthropologically important for woman to be at the center of Christianity."
    • Anger and Patrimony (from Donna)
      This is just another of the unintended consequences of the cultural acceptance of contraception and abortion! Men's sexuality has been robbed of its creative essence. It is now viewed as something that imposes a burden on women (when conception happens to occur), something used to control women or something that is purely recreational. Why would men bother?? In taking away their responsibility, we've also robbed them of their significance! In the big picture of humanity, men have been made into nothing more than a nuisance women have to figure out how to control in order to bring about the next generation. Men don't see it as their task to protect the vulnerable because they see themselves as the vulnerable ones. A few well preserved vials of sperm would make men entirely obsolete in the world's ethos today!!
    • Excellent, Dom! (from Teresa)
      That is astounding Robin, and good for you for standing up. At the heart of that matter, I think, is even worse than a gender mixing message. There is an increased sharper and sharper focus on the "self." Solid Catholic teaching returns our focus away from ourselves to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The original sin, Eve denied her womanhood when she desired to be like "gods." Since the only god she knew was the Father. Where was Adam? He stood impotent... in other words, they were divorced. There's a young girl at Robin's son's high school who was just told that she is the center of the universe and it's a tragic disservice to her.
    • Find the logic (from "me")
      Ditto what Mary said! A lot of high schools have very poor math and science depts, for boys and girls. I also am educated as a chemical engineer, but chose to teach the two years before we had children because its hours were more suited to spending time with children. (I was looking ahead). When it came time and I was pregnant with our first, I realized that I did not want to leave him with someone else, and was able to stay home full time. I am not sure it would have been that easy if we were used to another engineering income and not just a private school teacher income. Also some of my first job offers were out on oil rigs - I had no interest in that at all even though I enjoyed my engineering classes and did well in them. No one discouraged me from an engineering job, on the contrary I got a lot of flack for my decision not to pursue an engineering career.
    • Find the logic (from Mary)
      I've been lurking, but this is one that irritates me. Beats the heck out of me what these "barriers" are. I was educated as a chemical engineer, where 1/3 of our class was women. However, in electrical engineering, only 1 or 2 out of 30 were women. Is it possible that women are Just Not Interested in some areas? Nah, it must be The Man keeping us down so we must legislate (and, I agree -- when they say "legistlate", I hear "quota"). And actually, I have a friend that was also a chemical engineer. When she lost her job, she decided not to go back into engineering and started working from home so she could spend more time with her 3 kids. Also, if nothing else, there are all kinds of incentives for women to enter science and engineering -- scholarships not available to men, guaranteed housing on campuses that do not guarantee housing to the general population, etc. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that schools in general are not preparing students for the hard sciences. It is truly a sad state of affairs, the lack of science education these days.

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